One standard procedure for removing lung tumors is surgical excision. Such operations require a thoracotomy and can require very major lung resections, depending on the position of the tumor in the lung and the size of the tumor. This puts a considerable strain on the patient.
As an alternative it has been proposed that tumors should be ablated, generally using high-frequency ablation. However this is currently only performed for tumors that have developed in the bronchi. Ablation is then palliative and only the bronchus is opened up by ablation so that a gas exchange can take place. Peripheral lung tumors can be punctured by means of a transcutaneous puncture and then ablated. However opening up the bronchi in this procedure can cause a pneumothorax, which causes the lung tissue to collapse.
Ablation, in particular high-frequency ablation, is only used palliatively in the prior art as an alternative to irradiation. This is because larger ablations, which could potentially be curative, produce large pulmonary fistulas, which cannot be controlled therapeutically. This is discussed for example in the articles by T. Suzuki et al., Percutaneous radiofrequency ablation for lung tumors beneath the rib under CT fluoroscopic guidance with gantry tilt, Acta Radiol. 2010 (4), 389-395 and M. Nomura et al., Complications after lung radiofrequency ablation: risk factors for lung inflammation, British Journal of Radiology, 81 (2008), 244-249. Also inadequate evaluation of the ablation result means that total ablation is only achieved in 39% of patients with a tumor larger than 3 cm (see also M. Akeboshi, Percutaneous Radiofrequency Ablation of Lung Neoplasms: Initial Therapeutic Response, J Vasc Intery Radiol, 2004 (15), pages 463-470). Only one solution for avoiding pulmonary fistulas during and after ablation is described in the cited article.